Key City Council members want to curb super-tall buildings south of Central Park

Local officials want the city to think twice about tall towers like One57 south of Central Park.

A number of local elected officials who hold sway over zoning laws sent a letter to the Department of City Planning last week urging it to rein in the tide of new tall buildings south of Central Park.

"We write to voice our concern about the impacts of as-of-right super-tall buildings in the 57th Street corridor below Central Park and its environs," wrote seven lawmakers, including City Council members Dan Garodnick, Corey Johnson and Mark Levine, in a July 23 letter to Carl Weisbrod, who heads City Planning. "We ask for your assistance in mitigating the proliferation of these buildings."

The officials urged City Planning to implement the recommendations of Manhattan's Community Board 5, which covers most of midtown. They specifically highlighted proposals that would, for example, require a study of shadows on Central Park and its effect on the community. Another proposal suggested developers be required to disclose more information when it comes to buying unused air rights from other buildings on a block in an effort to boost the size of their project.

Nearly all the existing and proposed towers in question—including Extell Development's One57 and JDS Property Group and Property Markets Group's Steinway Tower—have bought nearby air rights. In those cases, architects have rearranged square footage already allocated for a particular block, a process that does not require any public review.

Community Board 5 has also advocated for a long-term height cap, along with a temporary moratorium on the new construction of towers topping 600 feet in the area south of Central Park.

Messrs. Garodnick and Johnson both represent portions of the affected area of midtown Manhattan, between Fifth and Eighth avenues to the East and West, and Central Park South and 53rd Street to the north and south—while Mr. Levine represents upper Manhattan stretching north from the Upper West Side. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, who provides an advisory opinion on all land-use proposals in the district, also signed the letter. Ms. Brewer has a reputation for checking development across the city.

"This strong letter by our elected officials is a decisive step toward much needed land-use and zoning reform to address megatowers' impacts," said the Central Park Sunshine Task Force, created by Community Board 5, in a statement.

Additionally, the officials asked City Planning to consider the recommendations of a separate group called the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development, which proposes even stricter requirements for new developments near Central Park. That group is circulating a petition that calls for lengthy environmental-impact studies for any building topping 25 stories, as well as height limits and a prohibition of new buildings that would cast a shadow into a park.

Suggesting height limitations in some of the densest districts in the city may not be well received by the de Blasio administration, which has noted that New York needs to build many more apartment buildings to accommodate its growing population. With land in the city scarce, the mayor's office has noted, up is often the only way to go.

Although a neighborhood-wide zoning change would likely be advanced by City Planning, the City Council would have the final say over any proposal.

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